This invention relates to the field of call centers, and more particularly, this invention relates to the field of call centers having automatic call distributors and interactive voice response units.
Calls centers that use digital switching systems have become commonplace in businesses and institutions throughout the United States and the world. Often these call systems use separate and functionally different automatic call distributor (ACD) servers and interactive voice response (IVR) servers. The ACD allows routing of calls received via a switch to a plurality of different agents, depending on the predetermined standards defined by the call center system. Examples of these standards include routing based on DNIS or ANI. Some call center systems also have skills based routing on a limited scale.
In these prior art call centers, the IVR script is separately established under one control system, generally run on a processor that is operative and associated with the IVR server. On the other hand, ACD operation is scripted and controlled via a computer and processor that are associated with the ACD, but separate from any association with the IVR server. This is a complicated prior art system, and the lack of integration among any ACD and IVR servers and components makes for complicated call center administration. Additionally, the lack of functional integration among the ACD and IVR components, especially with scripting functions, makes call center set up time consuming, and makes real time reporting of call center operation and agent efficiency difficult. Also, this type of prior art call center system makes agent evaluation and call center evaluation less reliable.
In some prior art call center systems, the user sets up call routing first, and then pushes skills into the call routing. This type of routing and associated scripting is inefficient. Also, many call center systems use proprietary report generation software packages having different prepackaged report templates that cannot be customized with standard office products, such as commercially available SQL or other database products. xe2x80x9cSnap shotxe2x80x9d reports are thus not available or reliable enough to evaluate a call center performance in any complicated call center system using IVR and ACD servers. Thus, these call center systems are not dynamic, and do not effectively provide service to customers and callers. They also do not respond quickly to changing conditions in a manner to allow adequate real time report generation and the control and tracking of calls within the call center, whether in queue or being responded to by an agent. Any custom applications also are not readily exchangeable across different platforms and are not scalable for different solutions and thus, cannot meet diverse current and future call center demands.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for routing calls to individual agents within a call center that not only allows skills routing, but also allows routing to agents having particular skills and proficiencies.
In accordance with the present invention, a method of the present invention routes calls to individual agents within a call center. The method comprises the step of establishing the skills that will be available within the call center by inputting skills data, including a listing of skills and proficiency levels for each skill, via an automatic call distributor (ACD) manager having graphical user interface (GUI). Agents are set up and are used within the call center. The set up occurs by listing each agent via the ACD manager and selectively mapping skills to each individual agent and corresponding to what types of skills the agent possesses. A call is then received within the call center. A requested type of service is determined for the call to determine what skills are required for answering the call. The call is routed to an agent that has the highest proficiency level for the skills required for answering the call based on the requested type of service.
Calls are then routed to an agent having a lower proficiency level in the event that an agent with the highest proficiency level for the skills required is not available to receive the call. A call can be routed to agents with selectively lower proficiency levels when agents having higher proficiency levels are not available to receive the call. A call can be held in queue a predetermined period of time in order to obtain an agent with the highest proficiency level before routing the call to an agent having a lower proficiency level. A proficiency level can be established for a skill that will allow routing to an agent only when a call is in queue.
In another aspect of the present invention, a call can be received within the call center switch from a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the call is routed to a call center interactive voice response (IVR) server. The caller is queried to input a requested type of service. The call can also be routed back to the call center switch where the requested type of service can be matched to an agent and the call transferred to the agent. In still another aspect of the present invention, the call can be routed to another call center when the call has been in queue more than a predetermined period of time. A call can be prioritized based on one of at least number dialed (DNIS), number dialed from (ANI), and length of time a call is in queue. The call center system is also disclosed and includes a call center switch that receives incoming calls from a caller. A plurality of agents receives the routed calls where the agents are grouped by skills and each agent assigned a proficiency level for each skill. A processor is operatively connected to the switch for receiving the call from the call center switch and determining a requested type of service and what agent skills are required for handling the call. An automatic call distributor (ACD) routes an incoming call to an agent that has the highest proficiency level for the skills required for answering the call based on the requested type of service. At least one processor loads the graphical user interface of the ACD manager where a user can input information relating to the set up of stations, call center hours of operation, skills, DNIS and agents.